3 February 2005, Thursday

One of the many memorable thoughts in Science of the Discworld II: The Globe:

The common (and often annoying) saying “The exception proves the rule” turns out to mean that the exeption tests the rule, and finds it wrong. Please, shut the mouth of the next person who tries to use this as an argument.

Here’s another:“[…] we may indeed share 98 per cent of our DNA with chimpansees, but then, we share 47 per cent with cabbages.”

This sentence suddenly explains so many things about some people around, that it should be written in huge letters in school rooms around the world. Except in the US, of course, where it would be politically correct to offer some non-evolutionist explanation as well. Then again mentioning animals and vegetables in the same sentence would certainly be offensive to the vegetarians, or were they the vegans (should be those that don’t wear rubber faces in Star Trek).

Yes, it’s not easy to be politically correct, dear male, female, neutered, transgendered, hermaphrodite or unspecified reader, listener or braile tactile perceptor. Shit, did I put “male” first in the list?